Rear hatch stops when opening

[ddingle]

My 2020 CX-5 Reserve’s rear hatch stopped working this morning. I opened it and closed it first thing, but when I left an appointment I noticed it hadn’t closed all the way after opening it when I arrived at the appointment. When I tried the button it just beeped repeatedly indicating it wasn’t working. I manually closed it, but when pushing the button on the hatch it beeped once as usual and moved an inch, but stopped and the beeped repeatedly.. That’s all it does. If I try to close with the button when fully open it beeps repeatedly and doesn’t move at all. There aren’t any obvious obstacles or signs of misalignment. It closes tight when moving it manually.

Anyone else experience this or have any insight into what is causing the issue? The battery is good. Thanks!

 

[wlong01]

Remove the negative battery terminal for about 10 mins. That worked for me and alot of others on this forum when the hatch wouldn't open at all. May work for you since it may be some iteration of the former problem we all had.

 

[Mazdiod2]

Could it need some kind of lubrication?

 

[ddingle]

I tried removing the negative battery terminal for 30 minutes and I put it in my garage and turned the heat up in case it was somehow temperature related. Still has the same problem. When closed when pushing the button it makes a single beep like it is going to open, but then just opens about an inch and stops. Not sure how it senses an obstacle, but it acts like that.

 

[wlong01]

I tried removing the negative battery terminal for 30 minutes and I put it in my garage and turned the heat up in case it was somehow temperature related. Still has the same problem. When closed when pushing the button it makes a single beep like it is going to open, but then just opens about an inch and stops. Not sure how it senses an obstacle, but it acts like that.

There's a procedure in the manual for adjusting the height of the door when it opens. You might want to try resetting that (if possible) and see if it has any effect. I remember when I first got our GTR and I opened the hatch in the garage - it went all the way up and touched the door. I found the adjustment in the manual and changed the open height.

 

[ddingle]

I tried resetting the height of the hatch opening and although it is supposed to beep 2 times when set or cleared, I can only get 3 beeps, so something is out of wack/sync.

 

[ddingle]

I am more or less concluding that one of the struts has failed. The price of $770 per strut is almost funny, but there are aftermarket and used ones in big quantities on line. I watched a video on replacing them and it doesn't look too bad. I wonder if there is a code to read if one of them failed? It would be great to know which one? The guy in the video guessed on his 2018 and got lucky. With 90,000 miles on mine I am not going to pay $!500 for two new ones. I am a pretty heavy rear hatch user as I have my dog crate in that area and open and close it a couple of times everyday.

 

[GrampaSlade]

I am more or less concluding that one of the struts has failed. The price of $770 per strut is almost funny, but there are aftermarket and used ones in big quantities on line. I watched a video on replacing them and it doesn't look too bad. I wonder if there is a code to read if one of them failed? It would be great to know which one? The guy in the video guessed on his 2018 and got lucky. With 90,000 miles on mine I am not going to pay $!500 for two new ones. I am a pretty heavy rear hatch user as I have my dog crate in that area and open and close it a couple of times everyday.

The connectors are fairly easy to get to. Just reach up under the headliner and disconnect one

 

[ddingle]

The connectors are fairly easy to get to. Just reach up under the headliner and disconnect one

If I disconnect the strut connection. Would the hatch move with just one strut? Thanks

 

[GrampaSlade]

I don't know. But if you disconnect one and the other one does nothing, then you know it's bad.

 

[GrampaSlade]

If it is a motor problem and you don't want to spend the money, you can always replace them with the manual struts

 

[ddingle]

I saw that when looking around, but since I have the buttons on the dash and key fob I would like the functionality of that control back. My plan so far is to figure out which one is bad and then replace it with a used one which I see are around $300. Still researching for other options.

 

[GrampaSlade]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

I refuse to comment on the reliability

 

[ddingle]

I took the car in to Mazda for an oil change and asked if they could determine which strut was bad. $100 seemed worth it to get that info and they indicated after diagnostics that it was the right strut. I found a used one on eBay from a very reputable source for $243 shipping and tax included. They even listed the 47000 mileage on the car it came from. I should have it early next week. Will update when I finish the installation.

 

[wlong01]

I took the car in to Mazda for an oil change and asked if they could determine which strut was bad. $100 seemed worth it to get that info and they indicated after diagnostics that it was the right strut. I found a used one on eBay from a very reputable source for $243 shipping and tax included. They even listed the 47000 mileage on the car it came from. I should have it early next week. Will update when I finish the installation.

How much is a new one?

 

[ddingle]

$770 per unit.

 

[erhayes]

Is it still under the factory warranty? $700 is ridicules. Go to AMAZON and check out.

 

[ddingle]

Is it still under the factory warranty? $700 is ridicules. Go to AMAZON and check out.

This is a 2020 well out of warranty. There are really cheap replacements from Amazon, Alibaba and elsewhere, but there is very little info on the quality or reliability of those so I decided a used one from a reliable source would make the most sense. Will update once I get it installed. Scheduled to arrive on Tuesday March 25th.

 

[GrampaSlade]

Good luck. If that doesn't hold up... 2020 Mazda CX-5 Tailgate Lift Motor - KB8C636EXH | Mazda Car Parts Online, Cincinnati OH

 

[ddingle]

Got the replacement strut installed and the hatch started working right away. Thinking about putting the dog in and out of the car through the rear passenger doors to avoid heavy use of the rear hatch in the future. I found I only had to peel open the ceiling liner enough to get at the power/control connector for the strut so the whole process was about 30 minutes. Thanks for the input!